Not as it seems
by LovingYourWork
Summary: The team are called in to find the missing daughter of a wealthy businessman, it seems a simple kidnap and ransom demand to solve but it soon becomes apparent there’s more to this case, than first thought……
1. Chapter 1

Without A Trace / Scooby Doo Crossover

The team are called in to find the missing daughter of a wealthy businessman, it seems a simple kidnap and ransom demand to solve but it soon becomes apparent there's more to this case, than first thought……

Daphne hated attending these society dinners, her mother insisted on throwing practically every month. She had to wear a stupid long dress, the only saving grace about tonight was her mother had finally allowed her to bring her boyfriend Freddy along. Her mother had then insisted he only come on the condition that he wear a full tuxedo and mask like the other male guests. She smiled at him sympathetically as he was cornered by yet another upper class lady, wanting to know everything about their relationship. The ballroom really did look fantastic; Daphne had to admit her mother had outdone herself this time. The grand hall had been transformed into a beautiful fairy tale style setting.

The marble floor was grandly illuminated by the huge bright chandelier that hung proudly from the ceiling. The room was filled with many of her father's business associates and their partners. The males all smart in their tuxedos, the women glamorously dressed up in heels and long dresses all lined up in preparation for the special dance. The music started up, and with a groan, she knew what was coming as all the men put on their masks. She danced with masked man after masked man fearing her heel would snap, she remembered to smile courtesly as she stepped to greet her next partner, not bothering to look up at all but his grip around her waist was unusually tight and uncomfortable. She looked up at him to protest and was startled to note unlike everyone else his mask was pulled firmly down covering his entire face. As he bent close to whisper in her ear, he allowed his jacket to open ever so slightly to reveal a gun. Daphne felt the colour drain from her face. "If you so much as signal to anyone that everything is not OK, I will kill your boyfriend. Keep smiling and keep dancing." The man gripped her tighter than ever, panicked by what he said Daphne noticed Freddy was nowhere in sight "Where is he?" she whispered maintaining her fixed smile as they passed another couple. "He is fine. For now. Now come it is time to leave, don't even think about struggling you know what will happen." As the clock struck midnight, he waltzed the helpless Daphne Blake, out of the crowded ballroom, unseen and out of sight.

3a.m 3 Hours missing

Agents Danny Taylor and Martin Fitzgerald stepped out of the car and into the cool night air at Blake Manor. Danny whistled in appreciation "What a pad!"

"Yeh prime target for a kidnapping" Martin retorted, reminding him just why they were dragged out of bed at such an unearthly hour. They joined Agents Samantha Spade, Vivian Johnson and Jack Malone in the hall of the grand house.

"What have we got?" Danny asked.

Jack relayed the information to the younger agents as Samantha handed them a photo. The girl was very attractive with long red hair that framed her heart-shaped face perfectly. In the photo her beaming smile showed off perfect white teeth, her arms were wrapped lovingly around a handsome blond who was obviously her boyfriend. Danny couldn't take his eyes off the photo, she was quite enchanting to say the least.

"Daphne Blake 20 year's old, daughter of Ryan Blake who owns numerous international businesses. Her mother Marie called it in when she noticed she hadn't seen her daughter or her boyfriend for maybe two hours."

"Wait a minute, boyfriend? I thought there was just one person missing?" Martin questioned, confused.

"We found him, Freddy Jones, barely conscious and locked in a closet, he looked to have been hit on the head with a blunt object." Viv confided. "He's gone straight to hospital. I'm just waiting for a call as to when we can go speak to him"

"So ransom demand?" Danny speculated

"Not yet" Samantha replied. "She was only taken potentially three or four hours ago, they could be biding their time."

"Nobody saw what happened?" Martin enquired, surprised. "Surely it would have been difficult for whoever it was to take her, even if she was drugged"

"Well" Jack responded "It was a masked ball, where all the males' faces were covered. The witnesses we have spoken to so far, remember she was dancing with a man about 11.10pm. They remembered because they thought it was odd, she was dancing so close with someone who didn't look like her boyfriend. They lost track of them amongst the other couples and that's the last anyone claims to have seen her."

"Hmm" Danny mused "It seems this was a very well thought plan, was it guest list only?"

"Well according to Marie Blake it was and security was tight on the door, so that means the kidnapper or kidnappers were somebody the family knew" Viv clarified.

"Ok Martin, Danny, obtain a copy of that guest list and check off as many people that are still here, run background checks against all. Vivian, Samantha go to the hospital and talk to Fred Jones, I will talk to Ryan Blake"

Jack watched his team disperse and smiled sadly at the photo of the pretty girl. He knew that time would be fast running out to find her.


	2. Chapter 2

Samantha and Viv were surprised and slightly wary to find Fred Jones room full of people. The middle-aged couple seated close together were obviously his parents, but there was also a gangly scruffy looking guy with a goatee and a bespectled girl with short brown hair, wearing an orange sweater. Samantha had to do a double take at that. She didn't think that anyone had fashion sense that bad. At the feet of the lad was a huge brown Great Dane. Samantha grimaced, she hated dogs, especially big ones like that.

The small assembly of people looked up expectantly as the female agents entered the room. "I'm Special Agent Vivian Johnson, this is Special Agent Samantha Spade" Viv introduced, flashing their IDs. "Were here to try locate the whereabouts of Miss Daphne Blake and we need to speak privately with Mr Jones" she glanced pointedly until she and Samantha were alone with Freddy. The 20 year olds blond hair was matted with blood and he had a huge bandage around his forehead and a few cuts but was otherwise OK.

"Mr Jones" Samantha bluntly stated "You need to tell us exactly what happened last night." Freddy looked the pretty blond agent in the eye and sighed "Well the music started which signalled the start of the dance. I sneaked out hoping to get out of it. I have two left feet you know!" Viv smiled encouragingly. "Well I uh went to the buffet room which was empty when I suddenly heard someone come up behind me. I turned round and was caught in the face by this masked man brandishing something heavy. I crumpled to the floor and that's all I remember"

"You didn't see who this man was, what you were hit with or how you ended up in the closet?" Samantha prompted.

"No, I mean, I think he was quite tall with brown hair but that's all I saw, next thing I knew I was waking up surrounded by cleaning products and mops"

"When was the last time you saw your girlfriend, Freddy?"

"Er it would have been about 10.30pm about half and hour before the dance."

"Ok Mr Jones, that's it for now" Viv said snapping her notebook shut. "We will be back, try get some rest" She and Samantha got up to leave. Freddy stopped them. "Agent Johnson, Agent Spade Find Her" He pleaded.

All the women could do was nod and hope that they could

6 a.m 6 hours missing

Danny and Martin had spoken to as many guests as possible, which were still there trying to help. Still they didn't have a suspect. Anyone could have played a role in her kidnapping, it was frustrating. Danny had started to run background checks nothing had come up as criminal or suspicious until then.

"Hey" Danny called his partner, excitedly. "Tyrone Dawson accused of fraud and has also done 3 years for GBH. An associate of Ryan Blake age 32."

Martin came across grinning, "Would that be the same Tyrone Dawson who was seen leaving the party at 11:45 with a mystery woman?"

Danny smirked triumphantly "Bring him in"

10 am 10 hours missing

"Aw man, I knew this would happen, just because I'm the only one of those geeks without a whiter than white record" Tyrone protested as Danny and Martin proceeded to interrogate him. "I didn't take his daughter! I swear I never saw her"

"Mr Dawson, were you not recently fired from your position by Ryan Blake's company and downgraded to a lesser position. You weren't too happy about it at all were you?"

"We have a number of employees who heard you swear revenge on Mr Blake" Martin added.

"Just a week later, his only daughter is kidnapped from a ball you attended and a ball that you disappeared from. Coincidence?" Danny spelt out the facts. "Where is she Mr Dawson, where did you take her? Danny was getting right in his face.

"I don't know where she is I didn't take her you got the wrong guy!" He yelled.

"Then why did you leave the party when she disappeared? She disappeared sometime between 11.00 and 12 am. You were seen leaving at 11:45pm. What did you do? Hide her for a bit, subdue her then took her huh?" Danny was getting into his stride now, Dawson was beginning to crack. "Then you came back acted all innocent and pretended not to know what the fuss was about, when in reality you knew exactly what happened because you were responsible!"

At this point Dawson snapped, lunging manically at Danny, who stepped back shaken, the guards stepped in and hauled the still screaming Dawson away.

12 pm 12 hours missing

"You know even though Dawson fits the crime perfectly, there's something not quite right about this" Martin brought up as they were seated in around the table to debrief. "Why go to the trouble of locking up the boyfriend, if he didn't see anything?"

"Maybe because if he saw Daphne with anyone else he would flip but others wouldn't notice. The kidnapper had to get rid of the boyfriend. Sam suggested reasonably.

"I guess, but not kill him just hit him hard enough to be absolutely sure he couldn't identify him. That's a smart thing to do. Dawson doesn't seem pretty smart" Danny commented

"Dawson is refusing to tell us where she is insisting he didn't do it. We don't have enough to pin it on him" Jack stated simply. "Lets talk to him again, but this time with a softly, softly approach, Samantha, but remember time is running out"

5 pm 16 hours missing – Hospital

Freddy sat up in bed as he talked to his friends. "I can't believe this has happened, why was I not there to save her?"

"Don't beat yourself up about this Freddy" Velma consoled "There's nothing we could have done. These aren't the nut jobs in Halloween costumes we have dealt with before, these are real ruthless criminals"

Freddy sighed defeated "Thank God I'm going home soon then we can really get to grips with this case" Velma and Shaggy exchanged worried glances. Finally Shaggy spoke up, his voice was gravellier than usual and he looked much older, taller if possible but to Velma, he was still the same old Shag. "Hey did the Blake's receive a ransom note yet?"

"No, which is starting to get odd, she has been missing for 12 hours now and surely the kidnappers know the FBI is already all over this case. They should just get the money and run. They longer they leave it, the less chance they have of getting what they want"

They all pondered this for a moment but still even though they had a shady past not one of them considered that this might not be about money and the Blake's after all.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N Hmm just a quick authors note because i forgot before just wanted to say this is the result of an extremely weird idea that popped into my head one day after catching an old episode of scooby doo. I always wanted to do a crossover for Without A Trace that hadnt being done before, its strange to say to the least but is guaranteed to be the most unique crossover you will read all year! All i will say is try to think of the Scooby Doo characters as real peoplenot three dimensional cartoon characters you may be surprised at how well they can fit into Without A Trace style story. Please note the story becomes Danny centriclater, Danny fans! Finally Love it or Hate but please please Rate it!

Let the story continue!

10 pm

Samantha entered the interrogation room, ready to start the interview, Jack and Danny would be watching behind the two way mirror. She smoothly took a seat and sat opposite the now calmed down Tyrone Dawson. She decided to get right to the point.

"Mr Dawson can you tell me why you left that party with a girl Daphne's age sometime before midnight? We have witnesses, who saw you, now can you see it from my perspective?"

Dawson sighed "Ok, Ok you got me" Samantha smiled triumphantly, the truth at last.

"I was leaving with my secretary, Nina, we've been having an affair"

Samantha sat back stunned, staring at the slightly scruffy guy in front of her, she certainly had not been expecting that answer.

"We sneaked out, hoping nobody would see us, obviously my wife was there"

"And uh this Nina, she can clarify this?"

"Yeh Nina Cartier" He sat with his head in his hands. It was an upper class scandal.

"That's why she had her hood pulled up we didn't want anyone to see her. Look I did say I wanted revenge on Ryan, but nothing like this. I've known Daphne for years, I would never harm her"

"Well uh Mr Dawson, until we speak to Nina, you're going to have to stay here" Samantha rejoined Jack and Danny who had been watching the exchange "Well do you believe him?"

"Unfortunately yes" Jack admitted "In that society, it takes as much to admit to an affair as it would to admit the crime"

"So were no closer to finding her!" Danny was beyond frustrated "Back to square one, nearly 24 hours and still no ransom, this is all very odd, what are they waiting for?" Danny's words hung in thin air, nobody knew the answer.

Martin had been with the Blake's all day and still nothing had happened, every time the phone rang, he had dashed to the tracer equipment, every time a false call. He didn't want to admit it but privately it was looking more likely they were not going to find her alive.

7am

The first thing Freddy noticed as he entered his apartment the next morning was the mess. It had been ransacked. The next thing was the big brown envelope with the word FRED written across. In blood. He gulped, scared of what he might find in the envelope. He was just reaching for it when the phone rang, jostled out of his thoughts, he picked it up at first it was just static but then came the voice that made his blood run cold "Hello Freddy"


	4. Chapter 4

"Jim Moss. Freddy would never forget that haunting voice, he gripped the receiver hard, shocked. "What do you want?" he demanded in a barely audible whisper.

"Is that it" the voice on the other end of the line, laughed harshly, almost incredulous "No 'I'll kill you for what you have done you son of a bitch? I've got to say I am disappointed, did my friend clobber you too hard? Don't you want to know if she's still alive?"

With those words, it hit him, the FBI had been looking at this from totally the wrong angle, and this wasn't about money! He finally regained his senses, as the full horror of the situation began to bite.

"Where is she?" He demanded with an uncontrollable anger.

"Now that's more like it Moss exclaimed happily "Now open the mail I gave you" With shaking hands, Freddy tore open the envelope. Polaroid after Polaroid shot of Daphne bound and gagged and terrified, fell to the floor. Freddy felt his world collapsing around him. "Why are you doing this?" he demanded, his voice breaking.

Moss's voice got harsher, darker "I always swore I'd get revenge on you kids for thwarting my plans, especially you. You with your smug grin and satisfaction as I was led away humiliated in front of my colleagues because of you. Well now I'm the one with the smug grin and satisfaction because I've got something of yours!" There was the sound of something being ripped off and then he heard her.

"Freddy" her voice was full of fear but hope.

"Daphne" he cried out. He heard her scream in pain as the receiver was snatched back.

"That's all for now Freddy. Don't worry you'll hear from us again." The line went dead and Freddy was left to contemplate his feelings and the terrifying situation he now knew Daphne was in.

Danny finished his phone conversation, looking perplexed "Ok thanks bye." He rejoined his colleagues in the bullpen. "That was the local police. Dawson didn't do it. The boyfriend has just received a call from the kidnapper and proof of life." Heads turned in surprise.

"The boyfriend?" Martin repeated, incredulous "but that doesn't make any sense, he doesn't have any money"

"But that's the thing" Danny exclaimed. "This isn't about money!"

"Its not" Viv and Samantha said in surprised unison.

"I think we need to have a long chat with Mr Jones" Jack stated, more than intrigued by this new twist.

10 am

Samantha and Danny conducted the interview with the others waiting outside. "Ok Freddy, you need to tell us everything, absolutely everything" Samantha started "We've seen the photos, you need to tell us what was said in the phone call and if you recognised the voice."

"Yeh I recognised the voice" Fred said bitterly "how could I forget it. It was Jim Moss"

"And he is…" Danny prompted "an ex college buddy, team-mate, local thug?" desparately trying to think of someone who could possibly hold such a grudge against a 20 year old.

"He's an ex con" Freddy stated flatly.

Samantha was the first to recover from the truth "and uh how did you make an enemy of an ex con, were you on witness protection or something?"

Freddy laughed ironically "Huh I wish" He looked at the expectant faces of the two agents and sighing realised it was time to tell the truth.

"See the thing is when we were younger about four or five years ago, myself, Daphne and a couple of our friends formed a little club and we solved mysteries that seemed uh supernatural" Despite the seriousness of the situation, Samantha was struggling to keep a straight face at the amazing story. Danny meanwhile seemed intrigued. "So we would go to houses, fairgrounds anywhere where there were strange sightings and solved the mysteries. There was always a logical explanation, a crime that was being covered up bank robberies, jewellery thefts, smuggling, oil, gold all sorts we went everywhere catching the crooks and unmasking them. I guess over that time we pissed off a lot of people and many ended up with jail sentences" He finished sadly.

"A bunch of 15/16 year olds thwart their grand plans, Yeh I'll bet they were pissed off" Danny said in awe.

"And uh this Jim Moss what did he do?" Samantha enquired, still not quite believing what she had just heard.

"He was perhaps our most difficult; certainly the smartest because he was a detective, even though the clues pointed towards him we just couldn't believe it. He was caught for dog napping, well we caught him and he was suspected of bigger crimes. While trying to find the dogs, I found a large bag of cocaine and made sure it was found on him, Velma had seen him with it. I think he went to prison in San Francisco, where it happened."

Viv went off to check out the records, the others were still struggling to take it all in. How could a group of kids cause so much trouble for themselves? Danny let out a huge sigh _this is going to be easy_ he thought wryly _a drug-dealing, ex detective._ "Well did he say what he wanted?"

"He just said he wanted revenge for what I'd done to him. He let me hear her, hear that she was still alive"

"Did she say anything?" Samantha asked

"He only let her call my name and then I think he hit her and hung up." His fists balled up as he remembered the sound of the blow.

"Ok so the guy who attacked you, was it Moss?" Danny pressed.

"No" Freddy shook his head firmly "the guy who attacked me was quite tall with brown hair. Moss had sandy blond hair" seeing Samantha was going to interrupt him he quickly clarified "he may have been able to change his hair colour but not his height. Moss is at least 6ft 5; the guy who attacked me was tall but not that tall"

Danny was impressed with his skills of deduction.

"So he has at least one other person helping him, possibly more, looks like we better get on with going through that list again" Jack stated 10 minutes later, as the team reconvened. "Martin you will accompany Fred in his apartment in case he gets any more phone calls"

"Got it Jack" the young agent replied, heading out to his car, Fred in tow.

"Samantha myself and Danny will split the guest list up between us, visit them and try and identify and locate the accomplice.Viv what you got on the records?

"So far not found any Jim Moss or anyone with a similar record yet, will keep searching" Viv confided, looking up from the computer screen.

Jack, Samantha and Danny headed out into the cool morning air, on a search to find the vital breakthrough that will lead to the girl.


	5. Chapter 5

It was 4pm in the afternoon and Danny Taylor was just about done with his list, he had so far come across old couples who had invited the 'nice man' in for a cup of tea but still it was getting him nowhere. He looked at his list at the next profile 18 year old Jake Beckett, was a friend of both Daphne and Fred, he lived alone it seemed. He started his engine and once more headed for his next location.

Martin sat in the apartment with Freddy and the friends he called his 'gang', listening with fascination to their tales of adventure and mystery. They had been there perhaps all afternoon with not one phone call; still he was anything but bored.

"There was this one guy in Turkey, who actually dressed up as a 'tar monster' and hid underneath pools of tar with breathing equipment."

"No way! What was he after?" Martin replied, more than intrigued.

Velma was just about to reply when she was interrupted by the shrill ring of the telephone, everybody froze, eyes on the young agent, waiting for instruction. Martin scrambled to the headset and gave the thumbs up for Fred to answer.

"Hello" he answered tentatively not knowing who was on the end of the line. His first words gave him the answer he needed.

"Hello Freddy" Moss replied and then pointedly "and friends" Martin looked up surprised, were they being watched?

"I can see your friends Velma and Shaggy but who's the handsome guy currently listening to our conversation?"

Martin looked around panicked for the cameras, was that one in the corner?

"You still haven't answered my question, cop, private detective; well no matter it will do you no good"

"Please just let her go your fight isn't with her it's with me and Velms"

"Don't you want to know how she is? Here I'll let her speak for a little while, no naughty questions mind, it will hurt her"

They all heard the sound of the phone being passed over and finally they heard her voice tired and worn. "Daphne are you Ok, has he hurt you?"

Her voice was woozy "I'm fine Freddy just er some cuts and bruises" There was something in her voice that told him she was lying. "Are you Ok they told me they would kill you?"

"Who is helping him, I'm fine" He immediately regretted those words as they all heard her cry out in pain.

"Tsk tsk Freddy a naughty question" Moss chastised "Careful you don't want her to lose her beautiful looks do you?"

Martin had listened to the exchange in horror and could contain his anger no more "Just what kind of sick bastard are you?" he said grabbing the phone from the stricken Freddy.

Moss seemed to find this amusing "and just who am I talking to now don't tell me you'll be the one tracking me down" he mocked

"I will make sure you die for what you have done Moss" Martin savagely promised.

"You'll have to find me first, anyway I've got things to do, got to go now"

"Wait!" Freddy pleaded desperately "Just tell me what you want"

"Now where would be the fun in that" he said cruelly hanging up.

It was just starting to get dark by the time that Danny pulled up outside Jake Beckett house. He blew on his hands to keep warm as he stepped out the car. It was in complete darkness as he cautiously walked up the path to the rather run down house. Walking around to the back, he noticed it was in darkness, obviously nobody home. He was about to turn and walk away when he saw something shimmery near his feet on the floor, a piece of fabric, he bent down to pick it up, part of a dress, alarm bells were already ringing in his head, when he heard a female scream that was abruptly cut off. _ She was in there!_ He quickly thought about his options call in Jack and get help? or try save her himself? Danny didn't have time to decide he didn't hear footsteps behind him, until it was too late. He whirled around at the sound and was caught squarely in the head by the boot of the intruder. He went down, desperately trying to retrieve his gun and radio. "Don't even think about it". The figure said crushing the radio and kicking Danny's gun out of reach. The first thing he noticed when he looked up was a young guy who was obviously Jake, the second and far more pressing thing he noticed was the gun he brandished and trained on him expertly.

"Get up" Jake demanded watching Danny carefully as he got up herding Danny into the house.

A million thoughts were going through Danny's head as Jake forced him into a chair, still with the gun trained upon him. What was this kid doing involved in a kidnapping, did that Moss guy hire him and most importantly of all, how in gods name had he got himself into this situation, he was a trained FBI agent! He comforted himself with the fact he had been taken by surprise. Scratch that he should have been alert, even if he was just a kid.

The said kid was watching him in a creepy kind of way, the gun all the time, pointing directly at Danny. Finally he spoke "you shouldn't have come here"

"Jake why has a kid like you got involved in this? Is he paying you a fortune, you know kidnap a girl for me and get rich?" Danny tried to reason with him and make him see sense.

Jake didn't say anything; Danny followed his gaze to a small framed picture on the mantelpiece a picture of Jake as a child with his father, and suddenly everything fell horrifyingly into place for Danny.


	6. Chapter 6

Just at that moment, a man appeared on the stairs, his hands were bloody, Danny didn't want to think about where the blood had come from. He struggled to free himself from the chair, it didn't take him long to realise Jake had done an expert job with the ropes. Nor did it take Danny long to realise who the man was. Jim Moss, Jake's biological father. "What do we have here Jake" Moss demanded, seeing the young man tied to the chair.

"He's with the FBI, he saw the dress fabric outside, and I guess she snagged it on something, I didn't know what else to do, and I panicked"

Moss laughed. "Careless Jake, so young and still a lot to learn, my boy" he said stroking the top of Jake's head, Danny watched the exchange repulsed. "We must leave now there's bound to be those who will come find out what's happened to their missing agent." Danny hoped and prayed Jack and the team were already on their way.

"What about him?" Jake demanded, pointing at Danny "He knows too much"

"He's coming with us." Moss smirked at Danny, who looked up in surprise, just before Moss made him exhale the fumes of a drug filled rag he had concealed in his hand, before the inevitable blackness claimed him.

As the team reconvened at the office an hour later, Danny was no where in sight. Martin brought his colleagues up to speed on developments in the past hour.

"This guy is really sick and twisted, he keeps ringing and tormenting Freddy by letting him hears her being attacked and then hanging up. We've gotta get this bastard before he goes too far."

Jack could see that this case was already beginning to take its toll; Martin had clearly been affected by what he had heard.

"And he's damn clever" Martin continued "We was unable to track the calls not to even a ten mile radius! He had some kind of surveillance Jack, he knew I was there"

Jack was very disturbed by this, the clever ones were always difficult but an ex detective? He knew exactly how these things worked; they had to hope they could find his accomplice. He was starting to get annoyed with Danny, where the hell was he?

Samantha was obviously thinking the same "nobody seen Danny? He should have been back by now, Jack did you find anything? I sure as hell didn't, alibis checked out, nothing suspicious"

"No" Jack replied "and I'm starting to think that maybe Danny did"

"I think you might be right Jack" Viv said striding anxiously into the room "I just got a call, Danny's car has been found outside a Jake Beckett's house, and there is no sign of Danny" she added. The team exchanged worried glances as they digested this information.

"Jake Beckett? Samantha questioned as they pulled up outside the house, 10 minutes later, remembering the name from the list "isn't he just a kid?"

"The most unlikely suspect" Jack said sadly as they searched his house for any sign of Danny, "Danny must have thought so too" he said, his eyes spotting something in the corner, he picked up the discarded gun and broken radio.

"Those are Danny's" Sam confirmed. A feeling of dread was beginning to knot in her stomach, why would he leave his car and his gun?

"Sam" Jack tore her out of her turmoiled thoughts thrusting a photo at her. It was Moss and Jake. "No way" she breathed, struggling to take in the image.

Vivian walked into the room looking very troubled, "Jack we found some blood in one of the upstairs rooms, a lot of blood, and also a scarf which we are almost positive belongs to Miss Blake"

"Dammit!" Jack cursed, "She was here, Dammit Taylor what did you do?" He blasted the missing cocky Agent.

"Jack we just got a statement from a neighbour" Martin said walking in, looking worried "She saw Jake leave with another man about an hour ago, she thought they were carrying something heavy shrouded in blankets" He stated grimly.

Jack recovered quickly from the shock development "Uh did she see anything suspicious in the last few days?"

"She thought Jake was a normal happy teenager, he went to college at Deaston, the same place both Daphne and Freddy attended. He only just moved in last year when he started college"

Jack sighed "How could we have let him escape our grasp, we should have made this link long ago"

"We all thought we had the right guy Jack, we didn't think it could be anyone else" Jack didn't reply to Martin's reassurance, wondering how costly this mistake was going to prove.


	7. Chapter 7

Danny woke up to find himself, securely tied to some kind of wooden support beam, the ropes around his midriff, wrists and ankles cut into him sharply. He was appalled to find himself gagged, after a few futile minutes, trying in vain to free himself, he realised it was useless. There was no sign of anyone else, his captors or the girl.

His captors! God this was beginning to get more than humiliating, he was supposed to find missing people not become one. He imagined the jokes when he was eventually found especially Fitz and Sam! He would never live it down. He tried to get a proper view on his surroundings, small dark, basement, maybe?

Suddenly the door opened and Jim Moss walked in, carrying the unconscious girl he had spent the last day trying to find. The son, Jake hovered nervously in the background staring at Danny, who gave him what he hoped was a defiant look behind the gag. Just what did this sick bastard want? To make Freddy suffer then kill his girlfriend? He saw her face and was sickened by what the brute had done to her. She was covered in bruises and had several deep cuts probably caused by a pen knife. She looked very pale, and where her dress had been torn off, he could see her legs were bloody and bruised. Moss then threw her roughly down onto the floor like a rag doll. Danny could feel the rage boiling up inside of him, this guy wasn't human, and he wished he could do something but all he could do was stare helplessly.

Moss pulled up a chair in front of Danny and sat just facing him, for the thousandth time, Danny was left thinking just how creepy this guy was, he showed no emotion. "So you're Agent Danny Taylor" Moss pronounced the name carefully, reading from the ID that he had found on Danny. "How does it feel to be on the other side of the fence so to speak, not a very smart thing to do, getting caught is it?"

Danny wished he could shout, scream and tell this psycho exactly what he thought of him, unfortunately the duct tape was preventing him from uttering so much as a curse. Once more he struggled against the bonds that held him, trying to loosen the rope around his wrists; he was surprised to feel it give way slightly.

Finally Moss reached over and tore the tape off Danny's mouth, his son watching anxiously in the shadows.

"It's not a very smart thing to do to kidnap an agent" Danny stated simply. "They will undoubtedly be looking for me"

"That may be true Danny but they don't know where to look, even if that hapless young partner of yours finally managed to track down my call, they'll be too late now, we've moved. It's a very smart thing to do, I don't want money from the Blake's, but you, how much is kidnapping insurance at the FBI nowadays, enough for a nice holiday?"

"You're scum Moss they are still just kids, didn't any one ever tell you to pick on someone your own age. Those kids did the world a favour by shopping you"

Danny felt the full force of Moss's fist at that comment, he ploughed on undeterred as the blood began to run into his mouth, hopefully now that he had Danny he would use Danny as his punch bag and not the girl in the corner that was yet to move. "They'll find you and then you will go back where you belong, in prison! Rot in Hell!" Danny spat in his face. Surprisingly, Moss seemed unperturbed simply reaching up to wipe the mix of spittle and blood away. He got up to walk away but at the last minute delivered a crushing kick to Danny's ribs, who wheezed violently, all the wind knocked out of him. Laughing, he and Jake left the dark dingy room, securely dead bolting the door that imprisoned the captives.

Martin hit the steering wheel in frustration, they were right back where they started, and only now the situation had took an even more frightening twist, with the life of his partner at stake. Samantha sat beside him, also privately fearing the worst for Danny.

Jack had reassured them that Moss wanted Danny for a reason, otherwise he could have just killed him when he arrived at Jake's house. Samantha knew Jack was right, but until they had Danny safely back with them, she would worry, and she knew Danny was a strong character, he should be OK but something about this case was chilling her to the bone.

They were playing a waiting game, they didn't have the first clue where Danny or Daphne was, or where to start looking, Viv had made a start on places Jake or Jim had either rented out in the past but was so far drawing a blank. They had to wait until Danny's kidnapper's made contact and Samantha hated not having the upper hand. They had pulled up outside Freddy Jones apartment, and were just waiting to go inside.

"Come on Martin" Samantha sighed, "Sitting here moping is not going to help Danny or us" She stated pointedly.

"I just feel so useless Sam, we couldn't find Daphne and now the situation has got even worse, maybe if I hadn't wound the guy up on the phone, he might have just left Danny"

"Yeh right Martin, he would have left Danny alright. He would have left him dead" Samantha didn't want Martin beating himself up over this, it wasn't helping.

Martin finally managed to pull himself together and he and Sam went to go speak to Freddy to tell him they hadn't got any closer to finding his kidnapped girlfriend. It was days like this that made Martin begin to hate his job.


	8. Chapter 8

Danny feared he had broken at least one rib, he felt so fragile, he tried to force himself into a sitting position, which he managed not without a lot of pain. His wrists and ankles were tied and he was still securely strapped to wooden beam but thankfully he was no longer gagged.

He thought for a moment about screaming for help but then realised it would be futile and he was probably miles from civilization, _he's a detective _he reminded himself_ He will have thought of everything, probably picked up tips from cons at jail._

Suddenly, he was startled by coughing from the corner _Daphne!_ He strained his eyes to see her in the darkness; she was curled up on her side, her back to him. Should he call out to her? He didn't want to startle her, she probably didn't know there was anyone else here but he had to see if she was OK.

"Hey can you move?" He shouted to the bundle in the corner. Startled, she looked up, Danny could see her more clearly now, her wrists and her ankles were bound but her movement was no further restricted.

"Who's there" She demanded in a scared voice "Jake?"

"Hello my name is Danny I'm an FBI Agent I'm over here" Danny did his best to wave a leg in her direction. "I'm tied to the big post, can you move at all?"

"I, I could probably crawl, how do I know I can trust you?"

"You have no choice Daphne, if you don't help me, I can't help you"

He watched as she began to crawl across the floor, he smiled encouragingly as she got closer. For the first time Daphne could see this man clearly, he was a handsome guy wearing a suit like an agent should but was he telling the truth or was this just another of Moss's mind games.

She stopped at a safe distance from him, fearing those seemingly tight bonds would come loose at any moment and he would attack her. His face was covered in similar bruises to her own but it could still be a trick, she proceeded with caution. "What happened to you?"

Danny smiled sheepishly "I uh was trying to find you and was er taken by surprise by Jake"

"That wasn't a very smart thing to do" she replied, providing Danny with a reminder for the second time that day, how foolish and rash he had been. She remembered his initial introduction "The FBI are looking for me?"

"Yes they are and they WILL find us" Danny stated confidently, trying his best to be reassuring. "Do you uh have any idea where we may be? I was unconscious when I was brought in"

She shook her head sadly, "For all I know we could be in New Mexico" Danny knew they would have to sit tight, he vowed he would do all he could to protect her.

Despite his efforts to stay awake, Danny and Daphne fell asleep after spending hours talking, trying to keep their spirits up. Moss walked in and immediately stirred them from their slumber.

"Aww well look at that isn't that sweet" he mocked noting how close the pair were." He strode over and roughly yanked Daphne to her feet "Sorry sweetheart gotta have a little talk with Danny boy here". He pushed her into the arms of the oncoming Jake who took her away. Danny swallowed hard, not wanting to contemplate what he might do to her.

"Come on Moss just tell him what you want and get this over with, you've had your fun"

"I've only just started Danny; Fred Jones will get his comeuppance. Now I want you to watch something." Danny watched as a screen appeared on the wall a fuzzy picture finally came to life and Danny gasped in horror at what he saw. Martin and Samantha in Freddy's apartment sat around expectantly waiting a phone call. Moss whistled in delight at Samantha "Who is that fox?"

"You leave her alone" Danny snarled.

"Looks like they are waiting for something, shall we give them what they want"

Danny was about to reply, when Moss silenced him with duct tape once again. "Sorry Danny you may have a secret code with your friends". He dialled the number to Freddy's apartment. Danny watched helplessly as his colleagues rushed around, oblivious that their every move was being monitored. Fred answered the phone only to be told he wanted to speak to the blond agent only. Martin and Samantha exchanged worried glances, they were being watched again.

Samantha calmly took hold of the receiver "Hello?"

"Who am I speaking to?"

"This is Samantha Spade, who is this?"

"Oh I think you know who I am Samantha, don't play games it could cost your friend his life"

Samantha felt her throat tighten at the mention of Danny "What is it that you want, were all getting tired of your games"

"Ok let's be serious then, I want 2 million dollars for the return of the agent." Moss deadpanned.

Martin looked up shocked. He was suddenly making money demands? This didn't make sense at all.

Samantha was also surprised at the demand but ploughed on professionally "And what about the girl, when are you going to release Daphne?"

Moss chuckled "Sorry no can do I'm afraid, I'm offering to let your friend go take it or leave it" Both Martin and Samantha knew that Moss was not going to give up Danny that easily but what other choice did they have, it could be the key to finding Daphne. They had to make sure of one thing first though

"I need to have evidence that Agent Taylor and the girl are still alive first" Samantha demanded firmly. She heard Moss sigh, then static for a while, before the unmistakable sound of Danny howling in pain and a desperate cry of 'Sam'. Both she and Martin winced at the pain in Danny's voice as they heard him wheezing in the background before Moss picked up the receiver

"Proof enough for you" he jeered.

"The girl" Samantha demanded struggling to keep her voice steady after hearing Danny being attacked.

"Ask Jones to open up his email, there's all the proof you'll ever need." Moss watched on the screen satisfied as they gasped in horror at the image of Daphne being hit by Moss's balled up fist as Jake stood in the background, holding today's newspaper. He watched also as Agent Taylor spat blood on the floor and tried to recover from the kicking he had given him. "Ok this is how everything is going to work"


	9. Chapter 9

Danny didn't know how much more of a beating his body could take; he had one eye swollen shut and numerous broken ribs from the kicking that Moss had persisted on giving him. The coward had beat Danny while he was tied up and gagged, and could no way fight back. Danny had been relieved to see Daphne returned at least physically unscathed, no telling how much she had suffered mentally, and he prayed her ordeal would be over soon. He looked up in surprise when Jake entered the room alone, looking ashen- faced.

"I need to speak to you guys while my father is not here" he started simply. Danny exchanged hopeful glances with Daphne. Had the lad seen sense? He tore off Danny's gag so he could speak. "I heard my father say he would kill you both in 2 days time."

"Well gee Jake what did you think he was going to do to us" Danny rolled his eyes. Jake had totally changed right in front of their eyes "He told me it would be just a bit of fun that he would get his revenge by keeping you here for a few days get a lot of money and then let you go"

"And you believed him, Jake that was never going to happen; he wanted to take the ultimate revenge on us" Daphne felt sorry for the naïve teenager, who had been her friend.

"I didn't know it would involve murder" Jake's eyes were filling up with tears, "I'm sorry Daphne. I'm so sorry I never should have let things get this far"

"It's Ok Jake" she stated firmly "You can still help us, you have gotta get us out of here"

"I can't my father will find out" he said panicked

"It's ok Jake, we can protect you from your father, and we can make sure he is put in jail for life, but first you have to get us out" Danny instructed.

"I can't, not tonight; he will be back soon, tomorrow"

Ok, that's good listen you don't even have to do it. Is there a payphone nearby?"

"Yeh"

"Ok heres what you do. Ring up the missing people's office and ask to speak to Jack Malone. Tell him you have an anonymous tip off about Agent Taylor's location and then tell him where we are; do you think you can do that Jake?"

"I guess so but first there's something I need to know" He said looking Daphne straight in the eye. "Did my father rape you?"

Danny exhaled sharply _Son of a bitch!_ The weak nod of the head and pained expression was all the confirmation, the two guys needed.

"I'm so sorry" Jake murmured before he fled.

His eyes flashed with anger as he headed for the payphone, how could he have ever agreed to such a wicked plot, he had to get her and the agent out of there, he reached to dial the number Danny had given him, and swallowed hard as he heard the other end being picked up "Jack Malone"

Unknown to Jake, however his father had heard every word of the conversation with his prisoners, making sure the room was bugged had been his first priority. He drove back angry at this inconvenient hassle. He had severely misjudged his son. He was disappointed to say the least. He took a moment to mourn the loss before dialling the same number Jake had overheard earlier

"Yeh it's me look slight change of plan. I'm going to need you to do what I told you to now, I'm going do it to night after all…."


	10. Chapter 10

Moss spied his son, walking away from the phone booth and back to the warehouse they were holding Daphne and Danny captive in. He casually pulled up alongside Jake, whose eyes flashed with unmistakable fear and guilt for a moment before he regained his composure.

"Jake what the hell are you doing here I told you not to leave them alone" Moss sounded displeased but not angry.

"That agent is not going anywhere at the moment, I don't think he would be able to stand after what you did to him" Jake's tone was accusing. 'You promised nobody would get hurt"

He's just a smart arse agent Jake, it's your fault we had to bring him, now get in" Moss simply demanded. Jake nervously slid into the passenger side. They drove in silence for a while. Jake unwilling to engage in conversation, Moss biding his time.

"Who were you calling Jake?" Moss finally asked.

"I wasn't calling anyone dad, I just needed a walk" Jake confidently stated.

Moss seemed to accept this explanation, driving on calmly. He eased the car into a lay by on a deserted lane. Suddenly, Jake felt the full force of his father's fist catching him full in the face.

"Don't lie to me Jake!" he shouted, Jake was too stunned from the blow to initially respond.

"I'm not" he eventually muttered. Moss nodded, calmly got out of the car, walked around to the passenger side, yanking Jake out, sending him sprawling into the road.

"OK then Jake explain this to me" Moss stated pressing the button that replayed the conversation he had with the Agent and Daphne.

Jake initially recoiled in horror before his eyes began to blaze angrily. "OK yeh I talked to them and I tried to get them free, you're sick dad and I want nothing to do with you, I'm ashamed to be your son!" Jake spat out his last words, knowing that they would sting him.

Moss was furious and grabbed his son and pushed him against the car, his gun at his head.

"Go on then kill me! You're a bastard for what you did to her!" Jake challenged, all fear gone, standing rigid. Moss looked Jake in the eyes ready to squeeze the trigger on his betraying son but found he couldn't do it, lowering the pistol. Jake breathed heavily as Moss still held a tight grip on his collar, he spun him around fiercely, slamming his head against the car

"Nobody betrays me" he hissed, taping Jake's hands behind his back, he turned him around to face him once more simply saying "Sorry" before taping Jake's mouth shut and bundling him into the boot. The last thing he saw as he slammed the lid closed was the defiant but terrified look on his son's face.

He found himself shaking as he once more started his engine. Why couldn't he kill him? He had killed before and would kill again, his son had betrayed him and deserved to die but he couldn't do it. He sped back to the warehouse contemplating his turmoiled thoughts and wondering how much time he had before the cavalry would arrive.The dot on the screen, told him his targets were in range, he got on his phone to order the two attacks, getting closer to the ultimate conclusion.

Martin was sat in the back of the car that Velma Dinkley was driving when the call from Jack came through about the anonymous phone call. Martin breathed a sigh of relief hoping the nightmare would soon be over for his friend. He was just about to tell Velma the good news when the car was rammed viciously from behind causing Velma to skid "Shit" he hissed as the truck that was pursuing them got right up Velma's taillight. It rammed again harder trying to force them off the highway completely, Velma was losing control as the car took shove after shove as it tried unsuccessfully to pull away. Then from out of nowhere, another car came head on, they crashed straight into it before the car spun off the road and down a large ditch. The truck driver, job done, satisfied drove past the wreckage as people stopped to help.

He parked up a safe distance from the accident calling Moss to declare "It is done", before he set off on foot to complete the next part of Moss's deadly plans for revenge.


	11. Chapter 11

Moss smiled, already the news was filtered through on the radio about the terrible road accident, stage one of the plan was completed it was time to complete stages two and three but time was running out. He pulled the car into the garage, very much aware he still had his son locked up in the trunk, he would decide what to do with him later. More pressingly he had to finalise his plans, quickly he dialled the hitman's number giving him his final instructions.

When the doorbell to his apartment rang, Fred was cautious to say the least, walking to the intercom, to find out if it was friend or foe, before he had a chance he heard the sound of a gunshot, blowing the lock off the door, frantically he scrambled to the balcony with the intention of screaming for help, he just reached the door to it when the man grabbed him, tackling him to the floor, the pair grappled for a few moments trading blows before the man delivered a crushing blow with his gun to the side of his head for the second time in 2 days. The hit man Steve, wiped his brow, the boy had put up more of a fight than he thought he would, more than last time anyway at the buffet table. Steve carefully picked up the unconscious lad, hoping he hadn't attracted too much attention, carried him out of the apartment and onto the back seat of the car, he was under strict instruction not to kill him, yet.

Moss went to go see the captives, who were gradually getting weaker, he decided he had to give them water and food, and he couldn't have them dying just yet, where would be the fun in that. He hoped that Steve hadn't had any problems at the apartment; he had worked too hard for this, for his carefully laid plans to unravel at the final hurdle. He was alerted by the sound of a car pulling up outside to Steve's arrival, he went out to meet him, Steve was carrying Fred Jones, Moss smiled, he was going to enjoy Jones's final torture. Finally it would all come to an end. Tonight.

Samantha knew instantly that something was wrong by Jack's expression, when he answered the phone, from being on a high after the information from the mystery caller, his figure noticeably slumped. Samantha prayed it wasn't bad news about Danny, were they too late?

She interrogated Jack as soon as he ended the call "What's wrong Jack? Is it Danny?"

Jack was drained from the news. "No that was the hospital, Samantha, Martin has been admitted after a serious car crash" Samantha felt her heart doing somersaults, herself and Martin had just embarked on a relationship. Samantha was almost afraid to question how bad it was but just managed to. "Jack how is he?"

"Well to tell you the truth Sam I don't really know he is not in a life threatening situation I know that but I don't know how bad his injuries are"

"What happened?" questioned Viv, sick with worry for Martin.

"It appears that they were run off the road, Martin was just accompanying Velma home, when a truck rammed them repeatedly before they crashed head on into another car and slid into a ditch. Martin was thrown clear of the wreckage but Velma had to be cut free from the wreckage and is critical in hospital."

"I want to see him" Samantha firmly demanded.

"Sam we really need to check out the information, Martin is said to be stable, im sure he will be fine, we have got to check this now, beside it sounds very likely that Moss was involved and is probably trying to distract us"

Samantha sighed knowing that Jack was right, the mystery caller had given them the area that Danny and Daphne were being held but not the exact location, still it was promising and they had to act. Jack readied the teams preparing an armed squad to stake the area, they had lost two agents already, and he didn't want to lose any more of his team.

Danny groaned as he realised that once again he was coming back from unconsciousness, Moss seemed to love giving a kicking for fun. He thankfully, still hadn't touched Daphne with his fists since he had been abducted. He felt sick as he thought about Jake's question to her, Jake had been livid. He looked up as he heard voices, and was more than slightly worried to see Moss talking in hushed voices with a mystery man. _Where was Jake?_ He prayed that Jake had been able to raise the alarm before Moss got to him. He didn't like the way they were talking so quietly. Normally, Moss smugly told him of his every vicious move with great satisfaction. Moss caught his gaze and grinned, walking over. Danny knew from his purposeful stride, that he was up to something. He had a very bad feeling about this. _Come on Jack! _He silently pleaded.


	12. Chapter 12

Jake was desperately trying to free himself in the trunk of his father's car. _How could I ever have been stupid enough to do this!_ He mentally chastised himself. His father really was a menace. He was 14 when his father was sent to prison for a string of offences. His mother had refused to tell him why, telling Jake he had been a very bad man and Jake could no longer see him. He had reluctantly accepted this, moving on with his life and going to college. It all changed last year….

_Flashback_

He was walking home from college when a van came out of nowhere. It was a blur as strong hands pulled him inside, blindfolding him. Jake was absolutely terrified, fearing he was about to die. He was driven for what seemed like miles, before finally being bundled into a run down house. The blindfold was finally taken off, as a million thoughts ran through Jake's head. He could never have predicted the shadowy figure that was stood in front of him. "Hello son"

Jake was initially in shock, before he shook with uncontrollable anger at the man who had left such a hole in Jake's life. "What the hell are you playing at, kidnapping me? you shouldn't be anywhere near me"

"I'm sorry Jake, to do this to you; it must have been an unpleasant experience for you, but it was the only way I could see you and I needed to see you" His father didn't seem the slightest bit perturbed. You've grown into a fine young man"

Jake couldn't believe what he was hearing,_ unpleasant? Who was he kidding!_ "I thought I was going to die!"

"Now listen Jake I don't know what rubbish you're mother has been feeding you about what happened, but you will hear my side of events"

"No I don't have to sit and listen to anything you have got to say" Jake shouted, getting up to walk away. Jim Moss stood in the way, blocking Jake's exit.

"You're not leaving until you hear what I have got to say" He said forcefully. Jake reluctantly sat whilst Moss fed the spiel of what Jake now knew was a pack of lies. About how he was set up by the kids and they needed to be taught a lesson and of all the things, he would do for Jake if he helped him.

_End Flashback_

_I was so naïve! _He thought angrily, guilt swept over him as he thought back to the events at the ball.

_Flashback 2_

Jake sat in the car with Moss partly hid on the backseat. He sat incredulous as his father passed him the gun. "I'm not taking that" he said staring at it horrified.

"Its not even loaded Jake, you're not going to use it, but she doesn't know that. Nobody's going to get hurt Jake, it's just a bit of revenge. Don't you want them to pay for what they did to me, to us?"

"Yes but is there not another way?" He said wishing he had never agreed to this plan.

"You can do this son, don't worry, just do as I said. Now you remember what I told you to say to her? Make sure you do it and _only_ she sees the gun"

Jake pulled down his mask and scouted out his prey as he stepped into the ballroom. His palms sweated as he felt the gun in his waistcoat and the realisation of what he was going to do hit him, as he took the beautiful girl into his arms. He remembered what she and her friends had done to his family and his features hardened as he dragged the struggling girl out of the ballroom, anxious not to get caught.

"Please let me go" She pleaded with him, attempting to slow him down by dragging her feet on the floor. He yanked hard pulling her along, closer to the car where his father lay in wait. Suddenly she fell to the floor, seemingly in a heap, scratching her face. Hurriedly he bent down to pick her up, time was running out. She kneed him right where it hurt and he crumpled winded, as she ran for her life. He watched in a blur as his father shot out of the car and grabbed her, hand clamping firmly over her mouth, he saw the pure terror on her face as he forced her into the trunk and Jake scrambled to join his father.

_End of flashback 2_

Now as he lay in that same trunk, a helpless prisoner in his father's twisted games, he prayed his own stupidity was not going to cost those young people their lives.


	13. Chapter 13

Danny was forced to sit and watch the screen on the wall again. A wave of dread was beginning to form in his stomach as a fuzzy picture of a news report filtered through slowly. That knot significantly tightened when he saw the car wreckage behind the pretty reporter. Daphne at the side of him, gasped in horror "That's Velma's car!" They could hear the reporter's words crystal clear now and Danny didn't like it one bit.

"The car was apparently being pursued by a truck, which according to witnesses was trying to run them off the road, unfortunately Miss Dinkley lost control of the car as it smashed into an oncoming vehicle and down the ditch. The driver of that other vehicle was not badly hurt and has been taken to hospital as a precaution. Miss Dinkley had to be cut free from wreckage and is in a critical condition in hospital. The passenger in Miss Dinkley's car, Special Agent Martin Fitzgerald was also hurt in the crash but his injuries are not thought to be life threatening…"

Danny could not believe what he was hearing. _Not Fitz!_ Moss looked delighted "An added bonus there with your partner! This day just gets better and better."

Danny did his best to comfort a distraught Daphne; this man was intent on totally destroying her and he was succeeding. For the thousandth time, Danny prayed for a rescue.

Jim Moss strode confidently into the room, where Freddy Jones was bound and blindfolded. Then he set up the video wall, the same as before, quickly removed the blindfold and left the room once again. He enjoyed the anguish on Jones's face as he watched the news report, and then watched a little video of Daphne's torture. Fred Jones screamed and screamed and screamed.

All the time in the car all Samantha could think about was Martin, they had received a phone call from him, assuring them he was okay and pleading with them, there main job was to find Danny and Daphne. Still, Samantha was worried, he sounded very disorientated on the phone. She had hung up the phone, acutely aware of Jack's concerned gaze.

"You OK Sam?"

Samantha offered Jack a weak smile "Yeh I guess I'm just worried about Danny and Martin" Her reply was none to convincing for Jack, he watched as she played absent- minded with her hair. Viv, who was driving, glanced in the mirror at Samantha and Jack. They both looked so tired so run down, cases became that bit more pertinent when somebody you know is involved. Danny's abduction had shocked and affected everyone. Viv would give anything to have him back by her side, mocking her with those playful eyes and telling jokes that nobody found funny. It seemed Samantha had been hit hardest, Danny was like a big brother to her, and there was an empty void without him. Viv could only pray that they would have him safely back by their sides soon.

"This it?" Sam questioned incredulously as they pulled up outside their destination, 10 minutes later. Her eyes swept the area in front of her, she had expected some rundown estate, it was actually quite a populous area in the centre of one New York's biggest suburbs. There was a block of apartments and shops on one side and a couple of factories and warehouses.

"Yep I guess he picked somewhere as least suspicious as possible" Jack said studying the scruffy piece of paper he had scrawled the information on. "This is the district, now I'm thinking in one of the warehouses" he said surveying the smart buildings in front of him. "But we have to check each apartment too." Samantha nodded, her eyes already wandering to the parked car in the alley, partly hidden. Jack followed her eyes, seeing the car that they had positively identified as Moss's.

"All units stand by" he instructed, as he and Sam cautiously approached the white Clio. The car was empty it seemed except for a black balaclava on the backseat, on closer inspection, Sam spotted something else, a cell phone on the floor, Danny's cell phone. She exhaled sharply as Jack reached in to pick it up. The car had been abandoned. Samantha heard faint murmurings just then, coming from the trunk. Jack heard it as well, "somebody's in there" Samantha whispered, nausea rising, as she prayed that it was Danny. Samantha stood with her gun poised hovering over the lid, she nodded a signal to Jack it was ok to break the padlock and the trunk flew open. Staring back at Sam with terrified blue eyes was a bound and gagged Jake Beckett, she lowered her pistol slightly as she saw he posed no immediate threat. She and Jack helped the stricken lad out of the trunk. Apart from a nasty bruise on his right cheek that had swollen, he looked fine. Sam tore the tape off his mouth, wrists and ankles. Jake rubbed at his wrists gratefully. "Thank you" he muttered to Samantha his eyes firmly fixed on the floor. Jack snapped him out of his mini trance. "Jake, where is your father, do you know?"

Jake's eyes froze with fear "You haven't found them yet?" he said clearly dismayed.

"You didn't really give us a lot of information to go on Jake, and we were distracted by a car accident involving one of our agents." Jack said quickly. "Are they in this building?" He said gesturing towards the dark warehouse the car was parked near.

"Yeh" Jake nodded. "They were on the first floor"

"Ok" Jack digested this information, planning their next move; Moss would undoubtedly have some form of surveillance, probably watching them right now. Jack had to get this exactly right or Danny and the girl would die, assuming they were still alive now. Moss was a dangerously disturbed, unpredictable man, and they had to play this right. Playing his son against him was unlikely to work, Moss had displayed contempt for his son. "Jake, do you know if there is a back entrance?"

"Yeh there is a fire escape" He shrugged back.

"Samantha take the back entrance, we'll take the front. Samantha and her team disappeared around the back of the building. "What can you see, Sam? Any sign of the hostages?"

"Nothing Jack, the first floor is empty, no sign of life" She winced at her own unfortunate choice of words.

"OK Sam keep searching, were going in the front"

Martin Fitzgerald had one hell of a headache, he moaned as his head throbbed and looked questioningly at his surroundings, a hospital room. He groaned as memories of the crash came flooding back. His bandaged head seemed to be the only memento from the accident. He got up from the bed and felt the room spin slightly but that was the only pain he could feel. The nurse walked in as he was trying to leave "Mr Fitzgerald what are you doing?"

Martin ignored her, grabbed his stuff from the table. "Mr Fitzgerald" she implored. "You're still not well, it really wouldn't be a good idea to leave unless its matter of life and death…."

Martin turned around to look at her "Believe me miss, it really is" and with that he swept out the hospital and made his way on foot to the district where Danny was being held.

Moss watched as the FBI and SWAT swarmed into the area, it wouldn't be long before they found him. It was a minor inconvenience, this would be over sooner than he planned that's all. The Agent had tired of trying to fight, he had left him locked up to die. Daphne was tied to the chair in front of him, blood running down her face, mixed with salty tears, unconscious. She only needed one final blow and then she would be dead. He leaned into the camera, learing at his helpless prisoner who was watching the death of his girlfriend. He heard a noise outside the door and realised he would have to end this quickly Steve was ready to run,

"Come on Jim, lets get this over with" He pleaded, glancing anxiously at the door.

"Its seems a shame to cut this short! Oh well" he shrugged nonchalantly before viciously slashing Daphne's throat. He watched satisfied as the blood begun to trickle "night princess" he whispered before disappearing through the trapdoor. Steve didn't have time to react.

Jack and SWAT burst into the room, shooting dead the unarmed Steve instantly. Jack's eyes swept over to the girl tied to the chair and the fresh bloody slash on her throat. He swore, "we need medical help" he cried as Viv ran over to the girl, paramedics swarmed into the room trying to stop the blood flow, they rushed her out strapped onto a gurney, on her way to hospital. Jack went to the dead man and was horrified to realise it wasn't Moss, "DAMMIT!" He swore. Jack urgently relayed the information to his teams "Target is not down, repeat target is not down""

He surveyed the bloody carnage around him, wondering how Moss had escaped.

Samantha had heard the gunshots and prayed that it was good news. She came across a room with a bloody handprint on the door, she tried it, locked. Taking a step back she lifted her pistol and fired off the lock, as she opened the door her heart soared.A bloody prisoner but it wasn't Danny. It was Freddy. _ How the hell did he get here! _He was tied to a chair and gagged. Samantha rushed forward to free him, just as she was reaching to remove the gag, she saw Freddy's eyes bulge in fear. Moss burst into the room with a wild eyed look and waving his gun around, he knocked Samantha to the floor with a crushing blow. "I may have failed to kill her but I sure as hell will not fail this time with you" He said to the helpless Freddy lifting his gun to fire with deadly accuracy at Freddy and Samantha who was paralysed to stop him, she closed her eyes.

Two shots rang out, the sound echoing around the building; Jack looked up in shock and fear.


	14. Chapter 14

It took Samantha several seconds to realise that she was not dead; indeed Moss never squeezed the trigger. She looked up in shock and delight to see Martin stood there grim faced, having just shot Moss dead. His gun was still held firm. Samantha couldn't believe it really was him but there he was the bloody bandaged hero. "Martin" she breathed as they quickly embraced "How did you get here, are you Ok?" She said indicating his heavily bandaged head. "I'm fine" He replied "Looks like I got here just in the nick of time" he said as they cut Freddy free.

Jack was relieved to see Samantha appear on the gangplank above, and was surprised to see Martin as they dragged an injured Danny between them. "Fitzgerald what the hell are you doing out of hospital?" He bellowed. "How's Danny?" he indicated. "Danny" Samantha questioned puzzled. It was only as they got closer that he realised it wasn't Danny at all, they were carrying. "You didn't find Danny either" he said clearly very worried.

"He's got to be here somewhere" Samantha said "But we've checked all the rooms"

"Wait a minute" she said her eyes following a bloody trail on the floor "A trapdoor!" Samantha quickly disappeared through the wooden door closely followed by Martin and Jack. In the corner was Danny, unconscious and lying in a pool of blood, Moss had shot him in the leg and left him to bleed to death.

"Oh god Danny!" Samantha screamed rushing forward to where his crumpled body lay, he was in a terrible state but still breathing, he had however lost a lot of blood. Jack called urgently for medical help whilst Martin and Samantha cut Danny free and tried desperately to stem the blood flow. Tears welled up in Samantha's eyes as she looked over his battered body. Bruises covered much of his face and one eye was badly swollen, his lip was split and his hair was matted with blood. His shirt was partly torn and revealed a stab wound and his ribs were badly bruised. _What did that bastard do to you?_ She cursed as he was loaded into the ambulance. Martin held her reassuringly as her tears fell freely now. The past few days had been a nightmare she never wanted to relive. "Its OK Sam, he's going to be OK we found him in time"

"But what if we hadn't Martin? He could have died and then that bastard would have won" The two bodies were wheeled out and it took all Samantha's professional strength to resist the urge not to spit on them. Jack slowly approached the pair, "Were just finishing up here and then were going to go to the hospital, Martin, you need to answer some questions about the shooting, don't worry they know it was self defence, you just need to clear up the details"

"Sure" Martin sighed, reluctant to leave Samantha, she continued to stare wide eyed at the spot they had found Danny, she had honestly thought he was dead; he had lost so much blood. As Jack and Martin walked away, she was suddenly aware of a new presence behind her. It was Jake Beckett, Sam quickly wiped away her tears as the boy came to stand by her side.

"I didn't know there would be so much blood" he said his voice shaking. "Is Danny going to be OK?"

"Er Yeh Jake, Danny's going to live, it's thanks to you that we found him in time" She turned around to properly face him

"No it's thanks to me that he was ever involved in this mess, in fact I'm responsible for this whole thing!" Jake's guilt was overwhelming. "Three innocent people could have died today and it would have all being my fault!"

"Your father manipulated you Jake, anyone could see that, you did the right thing in the end" Samantha replied.

"I should never have swallowed his lies, I deserve to be punished for what I did not treated as some kind of hero" Jake walked away to speak to the waiting police. Sam sighed knowing he would at least be charged with abduction and possibly accessory to attempted murder. He had come good in the end she hoped he would be looked at favourably.


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: Hmm did that seem like the end? i suppose it could have been but just a few more chapters to finish this unusual story off, just to make it clear im not necessarily a fan of either ship, hell i didnt even know what one was until i got on the internet, for the purposes of what i have in mind for the conclusionI paired Martin with Sam but as expected from now on its all about Danny...

Sam walked over to rejoin her colleagues, still struggling to comprehend what had happened today. The world's media had already descended on the area to report on the dramatic hostage situation. It was more terrifying than they could possibly imagine. When Moss pointed that gun straight at her, she honestly thought she was going to die. She was grateful for the chance to dodge the waiting reporters and headed straight for the hospital anxious to see Danny and to check up on Daphnes condition.

The wait in reception outside Danny's room seemed to be eternal but finally the doctor gave them the all clear to see him. They all crammed into the tiny room, relieved to see him looking better, his injured leg was heavily bandaged and they had cleared up many of the minor cuts. He was awake and smiled at the familiar faces surrounding him. "Hey you guys what did I do to earn this?"

"You had us very worried Taylor" Martin mockingly chastised. "Your face is a mess and yet you still pull that wise crack smile".

"And I'm still better looking than you, Harvard even with a black eye and fractured cheekbone" His smile visibly waned as he felt the full extent of his injured face. "Did you find Daphne in time?" He said suddenly becoming more alert "What happened?"

"We found her Danny, she's going to be Ok, he didn't have time to finish the job" Viv said reassuringly.

"OK that's good, oh! What about Jake? Did he give you the information?"

"Yes he gave us what he could, we found him locked up in the boot of Moss's car" Jack replied.

"Dead?"

"No he was unharmed; he told us Moss couldn't kill him. It seems blood does run thicker than water" Martin commented.

"Moss is dead" Jack confirmed seeing Danny's worried gaze. Martin shot him when he threatened Freddy"

"Whoa back up a minute" Danny said confused "What was Freddy doing there and I thought Martin had just been in hospital, Moss showed me the accident, it was on the news"

"I was on my way back to Freddy's with Velma when we were run off the road. It seemed that they were determined we wouldn't make it back. That's when he had Freddy kidnapped. I discharged myself from hospital and went straight to the warehouse" Martin explained.

"Dammit" Danny cursed "so who was he working with?"

"We don't know yet" Samantha admitted "were waiting for forensic tests on the body"

"Danny" Viv gently prompted "do you feel ready to tell us what happened yet?"

Danny swallowed hard and sighed "I guess, where do you want me to start?"

"What happened at Jake's house" Jack questioned.

"Er well its still a bit hazy" Danny admitted "I remember thinking the house was empty and turning to go when I saw part of a dress and heard somebody scream, looking back now I think Moss deliberately trapped me, he knew Jake would panic, I was stupid caught off guard"

Jack was a little unhappy that one of his most senior agents had let their guard down but urged Danny to continue.

"I woke up in that little dingy basement, Moss beat me a couple of times" he said referring to his facial injuries and fragile ribs.

Martin shook his head in disgust at the cowardice of Moss, beating him when he was completely helpless.

"Then I er remember waking up in hospital with a searing pain in my leg"

"You weren't conscious when he shot you?" Sam said surprised remembering the pain of when she was shot all too well

"No" he said quietly with a pained expression.

Jack broke the uneasy silence "Ok Danny we better go and let you get some well deserved rest" He said getting up "Martin, Samantha I want you to go see how Daphne is, myself and Viv are going to talk to forensics to identify that body"

"Goodbye Danny" Sam said giving Danny a little hug

"Oh easy Sam" Danny said feeling the pain in his chest again.

"Sorry" she smiled "see you soon"

Danny watched as his friends left and sighed frustrated at being confined to the four walls of his hospital room. He knew he wouldn't be able to get any meaningful rest, every time he closed his eyes, he saw it happen again.

_Flashback_

_Danny heard the commotion outside and knew that they had finally been found. He was still tied up and gagged; he shifted to try free himself, useless. The gunshots came in quick succession startling Danny, he prayed it was good news as he heard footsteps approach. He was wrong, it was Moss. Danny could tell something was wrong. He looked different psychotic, every ounce of humanity shed; he was screaming at himself and didn't seem to remember Danny was there. Finally he turned to face him hatred burning in his eyes. Before Danny could react, Moss had fired, the bullet slamming into his left thigh. The immediate pain was excruciating as blood began to flow. Moss cocked his gun again; ready to shoot Danny again, but something stopped him, he took one last look at Danny before he turned on his heel and fled. Danny grimaced in pain and felt tears forming in his eyes, he knew how serious a bullet in the thigh could be, would he be found before he bled to death?_

He was haunted by Moss, in all his years as an FBI Agent he had never felt so afraid of anybody as he had of Moss, he didn't seem to have a humane bone in his body, was hell bent on revenge and nothing would get in his way. He would never forget that look in Moss's eyes when he realised he had someone to take his anger out on, his eyes blind with rage, he had randomly shot him, watched his pain and fled. Danny now knew he was heading straight to Freddy.

He was startled by a soft knocking at the door and a nurse's smiling face popped in "Mr Taylor, I have someone who wants to see you?"

"Send them in" He smiled back, glad of a reason to stay awake.

The nurse opened the door wider and Daphne Blake wheeled herself in "Hey" she smiled softly

"Hey!" Danny was so relieved to see her looking so much better, her skin had recaptured some of the healthy glow that had first caught Danny's eyes in that photograph. Her throat had huge gauze where Moss had knifed her, and Danny knew her mental scars would never heal. She eyed the bandage on his heavily strapped left leg.

"Gunshot wound" he said matter of factly.

Her eyes widened in horror "Oh my god, Moss did that to you? I'm so sorry Danny"

"Not your fault Daphne, there's nothing to apologise for" Danny said firmly, "more importantly how are you?

She sighed "Physically? I'm fine but mentally…" Her voice tailed off. Danny couldn't even begin to comprehend how horrific her ordeal had been, how close to death she was.

"You can't get his face out of your head" Danny said quietly, taking her hand reassuringly.

"Every time I close my eyes I see him, see his cold uncaring eyes, hear his harsh emotionless voice, twice I've woken in a cold sweat, thinking he was there I could smell his breath, feel his hands on me, touching me…."

"He can't hurt you or your friends anymore Daphne, he's dead"

"He may be dead but he will haunt me to my grave" she chillingly predicted. "He violated me and I will carry that feeling to my dying day"

"Does Freddy know?" Danny suddenly questioned "about the rape"

"How can I tell Fred that, that monster raped me? It would totally destroy him, he's been through enough, I can't do it" she confided.

Danny didn't know what else he could say, no words could ever take away the pain of what Moss did.

"How is Fred?"

"Ok I guess, struggling to come to terms with what happened, can't blame him" She sighed "Our lives will never be the same again not after today." Tears were beginning to well up in her eyes and Danny could tell that she was hiding something.

"It's Velma, Danny! She's in a coma, she might never wake up" Danny's heart went out to her. "If she dies, then he will have won" Danny grabbed her hand tighter than ever and looked her straight in the eyes.

"You can't think like that Daphne; you have to believe she will get better"

"I just feel so useless, it's all my fault" She sobbed. Danny held her close, while she cried in his arms

"Its OK" he soothed everything's going to be okay" Danny felt so guilty, when he turned up at Jakes, Moss could have panicked and killed her there and then, maybe it was his fault, maybe the car crash wouldn't have been necessary. Danny tortured himself with these thoughts until Fred appeared in the doorway, startled he let go of Daphne, not wanting to give him the wrong impression, Daphne wiped her eyes when she saw him. He looked a little confused to see his girlfriend in the arms of the FBI agent that she had spent nearly two days in captivity with.

"I er wondered where you were, the nurse said you were here". He said indicating Danny. "How are you?"

"Okay considering…" Danny offered a weak smile.

"I'm sorry that you got caught up in this but I just wanted to say thank you"

Danny was confused "What for?"

"I gather that you kept her sane in their and protected her so thank you"

"Oh" Danny became sheepish and looked down at the floor, remembering one incident all too well.

_Flashback_

_Moss came in, looking absolutely enraged, Danny was still tied to the post but talking with Daphne, Moss grabbed hold of Daphne, and began to drag her away, Danny immediately knew what he was going to do. "No wait!" he pleaded. "Please take me instead! Take your anger out on me, I remind you of everything you used to be, and what you threw away, take it out on me" For an awful moment, it looked like he would ignore Danny but he pushed her out of the room and locked the door, Moss approached menacingly and Danny suffered the most horrific torture._

Daphne realised, Danny was uncomfortable with Fred in the room, and he was probably reliving that one moment. Daphne knew he had selflessly saved her, hearing his tortured cries from outside the door had been horrific, she never saw him after that until now in the hospital. It was clear he didn't want to talk about it, she decided it was best to leave. "We ought to go now Fred, I'm tired"

"Sure" He replied absentmindedly, still wondering if anything had happened between her and the handsome agent, he tried to shake the thought out of his mind but couldn't get the image of them hugging as he entered the room out of his head. If they both feared they were about to die, would they seek comfort in each other? Fred couldn't help but think they did, they were definitely hiding something.


	16. Chapter 16

Next morning it was back to the office as normal for the team, except the obvious missing void where Danny should have been sat, he was still at the hospital.

"Okay" Jack started "I want to update you on further developments on the case. Myself and Viv went to try identify the body, Daphne's parents confirmed that it was Steve Harman, one of the families own security guards who were working the night of the abduction"

"Huh" Martin replied "So that explains how Jake managed to get her out without anybody seeing, with the help of a dirty security guard"

"What has happened to Jake?" Sam interrupted.

"As far as we know he was taken to hospital as a precaution, released and is now talking to the police about his involvement, he is expected to be charged with abduction on two counts but not accessory to attempted murder because he wasn't present" Viv stated.

Sam sighed "poor kid, I really do think that he was brainwashed by his father, he never wanted to hurt anybody…"

Martin chose to ignore Sam's comments, knowing that that kid's naivety had almost cost his friend his life.

Three weeks later

Danny had finally being allowed home, Samantha had being running around after him since he got back and boy was he enjoying it. He grinned as he positioned himself on the sofa to watch the big game "Sam" he called "I've misplaced the remote, will you come and switch the TV on please"

She appeared in the doorway looking anything but pleased, at first she had enjoyed taking care of Danny, she appreciated that he needed help to do certain things but Danny was taking things too far and he knew it. "Sure" she said with false brightness, walking to the TV, locating the remote and adjusting the volume and channel dutifully. She turned to face him "Anything else I can do for you?"

"Actually yeh there is, I think I'm all out of munchies would you be able to run round to the store and pick up a few things, nachos, ice cream, pretzels …."

"Danny…" She started

"Please Sam I would go myself but my leg you know, I wouldn't make it back for the first half and you know what a big fan I am please." He looked at her with the sweet innocent puppy dog eye look that he had perfected and knew Sam couldn't resist. He was right, he had her.

"Alright, alright" she said rolling her eyes as she pulled on her coat, Danny was playing her for a right mug and she had fell right into it.

"Thanks Sam" he shouted as the door slammed shut.

The game had being going 20- 25 minutes and was just getting going when the phone rang. Danny groaned, every body knew not to call him when the game was on, probably Sam at the supermarket asking what to buy. He grabbed the phone from the stand so conveniently left by his hand "Look I told you I wanted pretzels, ice cream and nachos" he said by way of answer, he was immediately cut off any thoughts of food by the small scared voice at the end of the line

"Danny?" she quivered.

Not Sam but Daphne, he had almost forgotten giving her his number.

"Daphne what's wrong are you OK?"

All thoughts of the game were gone the second he heard her voice, he became more alert.

"Danny I'm sorry" she continued "But I don't know who else I can talk to"

Danny was really worried now "Don't worry about it, I said I would always be here for you if you needed me, I meant that"

He really did, he had become strongly attached to the girl, not in a sexual way she was too young, but protective, he was probably the only person that could come close to understanding what she went through because he went through it as well.

"I can't speak now not here, look is there somewhere we could meet?"

"You could come to my apartment" he said immediately, there's nobody here, well my friend but she's gone to the store she wont be back yet, you could come right now"

She sounded so relieved "Oh that would be great Danny" He rattled off directions to the apartment the best he could and then hung up wondering what on earth was wrong, he couldn't concentrate on the game anymore, for the first time ever he switched it off. Sam would collapse in shock he thought wryly, imagining her face as he told her that he switched off. However these were special circumstances. He wondered if she had been having flashbacks and nightmares like he had, he could never shake off the image of Moss no matter how hard he tried. Just last night he had woke up screaming, convinced that Moss was in his room, there to finish the job he started. He sighed hoping that Daphne was having an easier time dealing with everything. He hobbled his way to answer the door and could immediately see that she had been crying her eyes were red and puffy. He hugged her by way of greeting and asked her to sit down and tell him what the matter was.

"Im sorry" she started "but I didn't know what to do; nobody else even knows what happened in there except for you. I'm pregnant Danny, with that monster's child".

Her eyes were full of sorrow and pain. Danny was horrified for her. Poor, poor kid, hadn't she already been through enough. In that moment he hated that man more than anybody in the world. In a way even though he hadn't got exactly what he wanted he had won, this would probably tear Daphne and Freddy apart no matter what decision she took. He held her close as she continued.

"I hadn't been feeling well for a number of days I thought it was just the stress and fear but I decided to take a pregnancy test and it was positive, I went to the doctors and she confirmed it"

"Are you sure it's definitely not Fred's?" Danny questioned hopefully.

She shook her head sadly "It can't be, since it happened I've not been with him, I can't. He doesn't understand its breaking his heart, its breaking mine. I love him so much but now I can barely let him kiss me. I just don't know what to do. I have to tell him but can't face him. I haven't told anyone about the rape, not even my own mother!"

"You have to tell him, it's unfair on both of you to keep it bottled up. I know it will be difficult but you must tell him" He advised gently.

"I know I should, will you come with me?" She asked suddenly "to the clinic?"

"You're definitely going to have the abortion?"

"How can I even think about keeping a rapists baby? It wouldn't be fair on the child, I would be constantly reminded of him every time I looked at it. Will you come with me I don't think I could face it alone?"

Danny admired her strength, considering what she had been through; she was such a brave young woman. "Of course" he replied without hesitation.


	17. Chapter 17

A/N Almost there now guys, thanks for sticking with this story, here is the penultimate chapter...

Freddy got back from basketball practice to find Daphne was not at home. Ever since what happened with Moss, he always felt uneasy when she wasn't around, thinking somehow he had returned from the dead to claim her. They had tried to put everything behind them but it was seemingly impossible, they had grown distant, not like the young couple who were madly in love just weeks ago.

His eyes were drawn to the screwed up piece of paper on the table. Curious, he picked it up; there in his girlfriend's immaculate handwriting were hastily scrawled directions with a phone number written at the top. Jealousy was already beginning to mount in his head before he even dialled the number, fearing he knew all too well who it would belong to. With shaking hands he punched in the number on his cell and waited

"Hi you've reached Danny Taylor unfortunately I can't take your call right now please leave a message…" Fred hung up beyond angry. He was right! Not only did something happen between them he was still seeing her! Those directions probably led to his apartment as well. He didn't know what to do, after everything that had happened he was still going to lose her. He wasn't thinking clearly as he headed towards the bedroom, pulled out the false drawer and felt his hands close around the gun that he had hidden there since the apartment had been broken into. For a brief crazy moment, thoughts of suicide entered his head but then he regained control of his senses, why should he be the one to suffer after all they had been through at the hands of Moss. A crazy plan began to formulate in his head as he snatched up the gun, carefully tucking it away into his jacket. He grabbed the directions, and headed out into the night, his head full of jealousy, revenge and dark thoughts.

"Thanks for coming with me Danny, I really did appreciate it, I couldn't have gone alone." She smiled up at him "I'm going to tell him tonight, I'm going to tell him everything. We can't rebuild our relationship based on secrets and lies"

"I'm glad to hear that Daphne really I am, I want you to succeed, you need to be strong for each other and move on from everything that has happened"

"Thanks Danny I really hope we can and that you're back with your team as soon as possible finding all those missing people Agent Taylor. Hopefully I won't need to deal with you again"

"You deserve a happy life after all you've gone through" They embraced one final time outside Danny's apartment before going their separate ways. Inside Danny's apartment, Fred watched from the open window that he had broken in through, seeing the two together like that not only broke his heart but fuelled his anger and confirmed exactly what he suspected. Determined, he lay in wait for Agent Danny Taylor to return.

Danny walked back into his apartment it was all in darkness, he had just got inside when horrified he realised he wasn't alone. A voice in the shadows "Agent Taylor, I've got a question for you…" Danny's heart leapt into his mouth and for a split second he truly believed that Moss was back, he still had his crutch and felt extremely vulnerable. He tried to place the voice it sounded a bit like…….

Fred. He stepped out of the shadows flicking the switch and blinding Danny. Danny was confused, what the hell did he want? He tried to be calm.

"Fred what can I do for you?"

Fred laughed ironically "You can't do anything for me" He hissed "Apart from what you've already done"

Danny really was confused about what he could have possibly done to upset the young man "What am I supposed to have done?"

Fred was incredulous "You really are going to deny everything aren't you? Maybe this will help you change your mind" To Danny's horror, Fred produced a gun and he was immediately reminded of that moment last time a gun was pointed at him. "You don't like guns do you Danny?" Fred continued as Danny continued to stare wide-eyed at the glinting barrel aimed straight at his chest.

"Put the gun down" He calmly demanded, his palms outstretched defending himself.

"Tell the truth Danny" Fred insisted "I've seen the evidence with my own eyes" he spat out "I saw you with her outside; I know she has been calling you. Just admit it!"

So that was it! He thinks I've been sleeping with her! He almost laughed at the irony of the situation but that gun was very real and aimed straight towards him. He had to convince him of his innocence. "Look man, I can tell you I haven't touched her"

The denial seemed to stun Fred momentarily, expecting Danny to pour out his guilt. "Your arms were around her! She has been here I can smell her perfume! How can you deny it! I knew from that moment at the hospital and you were together. She's been calling you ever since"

Danny was actually becoming angry rather than scared, how dare this kid, and that's what he was, breaki nto his home and threaten him, accusing him of sleeping with his girlfriend! It was ludicrous, especially considering the truth. "She's called me once Fred I can assure you nothing has happened between me and Daphne" he coolly declared.

"Then why has she been here and called you?" Fred was becoming equally unhinged, looking nothing like the calm composed kid, he had interviewed some three weeks ago. Danny eyed the gun fearfully thinking he could pull that trigger at any minute.

Meanwhile, Daphne had returned home composed herself ready to tell Fred the heartbreaking news, she was calm and ready as she pushed the door open. Empty. He wasn't home. Odd, she thought basketball practice should be over well before now. She spotted the cell phone on the floor, in pieces, Freddy's cell phone. Her eyes went to the table, where she had carelessly left Danny's details and realised that it had gone. A pit of dread started to build in her stomach, she ran into the bedroom, tugging out the drawer where the gun was. Empty. Like her stomach. Oh god! She murmured, he's going after Danny. She grabbed her car keys and ran out of the house, her heart pumping; she prayed that Fred hadn't done anything stupid.

There was a knock at the door, as Fred continued to hold Danny hostage in his own home. "Not a word" Fred whispered. The knocking grew insistent followed by a voice.

"Danny?" It was Sam "Are you there?" The thought of calling out entered Danny's mind but one look at Fred told him that he would probably just shoot him outright if he dared open his mouth to her, he also didn't want to endanger Sam. He waited until Sam had gone before pleading reason with Fred again.

"I can't tell you why she was here that's up to her"

"Just tell me" He practically screamed, continuing to aim the gun to him. Danny realised he would have to tell him if he wanted to live but by telling him that soul destroying news would he just kill him anyway?


	18. Chapter 18

Daphne pulled up outside the apartment and immediately spotted the pretty blond agent walking away, "Agent Spade!" She called urgently. Samantha turned around surprised to see the redheaded girl running up to her outside Danny's apartment. "Have you been in to see Danny?"

"No, there was no answer, is there something wrong?" she said seeing the terrified look on the younger girl's face.

"I think my boyfriend has horribly got the wrong idea, he thinks Danny and I was having an affair" Sam stared at her, not even beginning to comprehend what she had just said. "Is he dangerous?"

Daphne's face turned almost white "I think he has got a gun"

"Oh God!" Sam ran to the door of Danny's apartment, Daphne at her heels. "Danny!" She rapped "Danny please open this door if you're in there!"

Danny glanced at Fred again who looked like he really didn't know what to do. He didn't have the chance. Sam used her considerable strength to break the door down, Fred's arms immediately wrapped around Danny's neck the cold steel of the gun pressed firmly against the side of Danny's head. Danny breathed heavily.

"I'll shoot him!" Fred screamed as Sam burst in, followed by Daphne. Seeing her seemed to confuse Fred momentarily, relaxing his grip on Danny and lowering the gun ever so slightly. It was all Danny needed. Using what little strength he had left, he twisted quickly to free himself, knocking the gun out of his arms before he could react. Sam was already calling for back up as Daphne ran forward and positioned herself between Fred who had recovered the gun and Danny.

"No Sam! It's OK" Danny cried. "There's no need" Sam looked at Danny like he was insane, after what Daphne told her outside she didn't know if she really knew him at all.

"Fred" Daphne implored "please drop the gun, I'll tell you what happened when we were captives. I promise you have no reason to hurt Danny so please just drop the gun" Her eyes pleaded with him, finally the gun clattered to the floor and Fred looked back at her with empty eyes. Samantha was completely at a loss as to what was happening but trusting Danny; she hung up and came to stand by his side.

"The truth is Fred is that Danny does know something that nobody else knows. There is no easy way to tell you what I'm going to say"

"Just tell me" Fred demanded. Daphne's eyes met Danny who nodded at her urging her to continue.

"Something happened that I've not really been able to come to terms with and I don't know how to tell you but whilst I was a prisoner at Jake's house". She could no longer make eye contact and looked away. "Moss raped me"

"He raped you?" Fred practically exploded. Sam was shocked, she hadn't been expecting that at all. Danny looked pained. "Sick son of a bitch!" Fred was shaking uncontrollably now and dropped to the floor completely shell shocked. It was Danny who placed a comforting hand on his shoulder as he sobbed bitterly, a shattered man.

"I'm so sorry Freddy it didn't seem right for me to tell you" Danny's eyes were forgiving. The realisation of what he had done suddenly hit Fred, he had terrorised an already traumatised FBI Agent in his own home! He was disgusted with himself, Danny had done nothing wrong.

Samantha was struggling to take everything in. It seemed that Danny and Daphne's ordeal had more far reaching consequences then she could possibly have imagined.

Finally, Fred stopped crying enough to question what he had seen "Then why were you still talking to Danny? Why did I see you go meet him?" He said suddenly realising that what she had just told him didn't explain why she had met him. Sam looked at Danny, she wanted to know that reason too. Danny's hand left Fred's shoulder and looked at Sam forlornly.

"We went to the clinic" Daphne said in a small voice. Sam's eyes widened, she guessed why.

Fred was confused "The clinic? What did you go to the clinic for, they only do…" and then the realisation hit him. "Oh God no tell me it didn't happen……." Fred was at breaking point.

"I was pregnant" she sobbed "I had to, had no choice" She looked over at Danny "I couldn't go through it alone but I just couldn't face telling you..."

Danny expected him to be angry, feared for all their safety but instead he just buried himself in Daphne's arms, a young couple united in their grief and trauma. They were strong and still deeply in love, they would get through this, they had to. Danny hoped and prayed the couple would begin to repiece together their shattered lives. He promised he wouldn't press any charges against Fred, he understood completely and wholly. They vowed to move away and try to make a fresh start, Danny hoped they could, they deserved to.

After they had gone, Sam stayed with Danny. "Are you sure you're OK Danny?" Her eyes were full of concern for her friend, despite his bravado, it was clear he was still majorly shook up after what had happened. He had been quiet, sullen unwilling to talk about what had happened. She was worried about him, gone was the glimmer in his sparkling eyes and cocky swagger, replaced by fear and uncertain eyes. "Danny" she pleaded "please talk to me about what happened, I'm here for you" Danny's eyes glazed over as he looked at her sat next to him. Obviously what had just happened had brought back something Danny wanted to hide, he was just beginning to look like his old self again but this had retreated him back into his shell. "What happened Danny?" she gently probed. Danny's mind wandered back to a place he wanted to forget

_Flashback_

_He slammed Danny hard up against the wall, almost cutting off Danny's airway, Danny gasped for breath as he received harsh blow after harsh blow, his hands were tied firmly beyond his back, he couldn't respond or fight back. Moss was like a wild animal taking sadistic pleasure every time Danny screamed in agony. Moss wasn't finished yet, he ripped off Danny's shirt and burnt his bare flesh. He took a piece of duct tape and sealed Danny's mouth. "I've had enough of your screams" he told a horrified Danny holding up a syringe plunging it into Danny's neck, Danny slowly felt his world being taken away from, as he was pushed to the floor, he heard Moss's words as he collapsed into unconsciousness "Now its time for some real fun…"_

Danny's mind churned lost in his thoughts, a voice in the distance, Sam's voice. "Danny?"

He couldn't stop the words from spilling out, he had to confess. "He was going to go for her again, Sam, I couldn't let that happen"

"He was going to rape her again?" Sam questioned "What did you do?"

Danny was really struggling "I saw her, saw her fear, I couldn't let her go through all that again, so I, I offered to let him us me as his punch bag but but I didn't think he would do_that_ I mean I think he did, I just don't know…" Tears were forming in Danny's eyes.

"Oh God" Sam felt the bile rising up in her stomach, held Danny close, as his barriers came down and he sobbed freely. Sam was crying as well "You don't have to tell me Danny, really you don't"

Danny wanted to free his mind totally but he was so confused. "He he used a needle on me, I don't know what it was but it made me feel immobile and drowsy, I fell unconscious but before I did he" Tears were falling down his face readily, drops falling onto his shirt. "He pushed me to the floor and I felt his hands on me touching me, going lower and lower and lower…"

"Oh Danny" Sam cried not even beginning to imagine, what he had gone through.

"But when I woke up again he was gone, don't know where, don't know how long I had been out but my clothes were back, I just don't know what happened. Sam I just don't know" He finished in a whisper. Sam wrapped her arms around Danny and he buried his head against her chest, the tears, he couldn't control. Sam's heart was breaking for her friend. She kissed his forehead as she comforted him. She hated Jim Moss with all her heart for what he had done to Danny, she didn't know if he would ever be able to recover, she had seen the fear in his eyes when that gun was pointed at him, his body had just shut down. His confidence had been shattered and after what he had just told her...

"I think you should see a councillor" the words just spilled out before she could react. Danny looked at her in fear "No, cant" he rasped. "You need some help Danny to deal" She firmly told him, cupping his face.

"Don't want to see councillor"

"I know its scary baby, trust me I know but they can really help you. You're never going to forget what happened in there, you can't just erase bad memories believe me ive tried but they will always stay with you no matter how painful"

Danny nodded his head weakly, he didn't want to feel like this for the rest of his life, he wanted his life back. "Ok" he agreed "I'll get help"

"Don't think you're ever alone Danny, you'll always have people here for you" Sam hugged him tightly.Danny knew he was lucky to have friends as good as Sam. He froze as there was a knock at the door. He looked at Sam in fear who got up to look, "its Martin" she told him. Danny quickly dried his eyes, didn't want Martin to see him like this, Sam went to go answer but before she could, Danny grabbed her arm.

"Please don't tell Martin what I told you" he pleaded. Sam nodded she understood and went to answer the door.

"Hey" she greeted Martin, lightly brushing his lips with a kiss.

"Still running around after Danny huh? Boy is he taking you for a ride!" Sam just laughed.

"Hey buddy" Martin greeted Danny in the lounge. "You're looking so much better, I think Sam must be taking good care of you, just wished she would do the same for me" he gently teased. Sam playfully smacked him on the arm. Danny smiled it was good to see his friends so happy. "So, just like the old days eh? Movie and a pizza at Danny's?" Martin exclaimed.

Sam laughed incredulously "Just like in the old days, you couldn't stand Danny if I remember rightly for some time! I had to practically drag you round here!"

Martin smiled sheepishly "OK so Yeh I guess I thought you were a jerk at first, sorry"

Danny smiled back "Don't apologise I thought you were just some jumped up little wannabe trying to impress your old man and after your first case well…"

"Hey alright alright I made a mistake, it was two years ago! You guys are never gonna let me forget are you?"

"Nope" Sam smiled mischievously.

Martin sighed defeated "so back to my original suggestion, movie and a pizza?"

"Sounds good to me" Danny replied

Martin grinned "good I was hoping you would say yes so that's why I brought…"

"E.T!" Sam groaned seeing the DVD Martin had produced from his bag "Jesus Martin how many times do you need to see that!"

"It's a classic!" Martin protested "and a lovely harmless movie. I brought 'The Sound of Music too"

"Wow Martin" Danny joked "I always thought you looked a little alienish to me"

Martin chose to ignore the comment and slipped the DVD on the player.

"You know" Danny commented "I don't think I've seen this movie since I was kid"

"Oh Martin has" Sam teased "lots, and he never fails to cry at the end"

"I do not" Sam rolled her eyes at him "Ok maybe I got a little teary once"

They settled down to watch the movie, Sam and Martin curled up on the sofa together, and Danny sprawled out in his easy chair. As Martin once again became engrossed, Sam sneaked a look at Danny and caught his eye, they shared a knowing glance for a second and then Danny smiled at her. And in that moment she knew he was going to be ok. Sure he had the mental scars that would never fully heal but in her heart she knew he was going to be alright. That smile betrayed the pain, Danny felt inside but it was defiant, he was a fighter and he was going to get through this. Just one look at him told her that he was going come out of this, stronger than ever before. Why? Because he was Danny Taylor and Danny Taylor was never to be defeated.

A/N: And thats it! Sorry for the cheesy ending there but i needed it to be a bit light hearted after all the angst, I wanted to end with Danny's defiance that he would overcome everything that has happened, as to exactly WHAT happened well it shall never be known, that dear reader is all down to your interpretation. Thank you for reading and reviewing this fic and hopefully I will be back soon with a new Without A Trace fic, i already have some ideas and this time its not a crossover just purely WAT.


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